Australian Members



fxh said:

Lots of options - plain white as a starter, or blue with white dots, or something with red/ burgundy and white dots.

There's a lot mor experts here than me on pocket squares , take it easy , plain white is already pushing boundaries in some places. Always understand your context and milieu , otherwise you'll be a dick.

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Selvaggio said:

I think California Dreamer should answer this, given his new found status

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thanks for the info.
browsing kent wang last night i think i will go with this one
http://www.kentwang.com/pocket-squares/white-with-navy-edge.html



fxh said:

I haven't looked at it closely but Aus Post always seems quicker and has local offices for pickup than most couriers.

(As a side note I'd like to see Aus Post makes its local offices work as pickup places*, perhaps in conjunction with 7/11 or service stations so we could have 24/7 POs - for a wide range of online goods - for a small fee - such as groceries)

We have stupid courier mobs that wont leave on verandah and require a bloody trip across Melbourne to pick up from their depot if you are not home. Said trip taking 2 hours across town IN Business hours. FTFAJ.

UK Post seems bloody marvelous - it might cost too much public $$ I don't know - but it sure is fast and accurate - there and here.

* no blahman - not THAT type of pickup place.

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I agree - it's the pits. Half the suburban post offices aren't even open on Saturdays. I always have my stuff delivered to a friend who's retired. Always at home or at the very least able to go to pick up a parcel during business hours because they don't work...

The other option is getting stuff delivered to your office, though our mail boy is a bit simple and stuff regularly goes missing. In fact, I nearly throttled the kid when he delivered an 85 quid scarf to the wrong bloke in our building, but thankfully it turned up before I resorted to torture.

UK Post is a world leader. Then again, it is a small island.....

^ I am lucky that as well as site based work I work from home and the mail contractor and I have agreed on a spot where he will put things if I am not home. I get a large amount of books from the UK and they arrive pretty fast, my dealings with Herrings have been good so far, and US Postal have been good with express delivery, recently I got some socks from the US and that took 3 days from order to delivery. Amazon US in my experience has always been the worst.

Fed Ex are a pain to deal with for if your not at home when they call their depot has odd hours for collection. The only good service Aust Post runs in their overnight express service.

Also this was in todays SMH no doubt it will cause Mr Harvey a sleepless night

But the commission found the cost of checking millions of packages would result in a ''deadweight loss'' because it would cost more than the extra revenue collected, would cause ''undue delays in delivery'' and clog up Customs.
In 2010-11, 45 million purchases under the $1000 threshold entered Australia through the mail system and another 10 million came by courier.
Of the 45 million, the commission estimated 33 million were worth less than $100. If the threshold was cut to $20, an extra $500 million in revenue would be collected but it would cost $1.6 billion to check the parcels.

I had generally found Aus Post pretty good until an experience this year which was just plain wrong.

I arranged for a parcel to be sent from MEL to SYD regular post. A couple of weeks go by and no parcel. Aus Post said to ask the sender to raise a query with them, which he did, and eventually they found the parcel at the Redfern Mail Centre.

It had been returned because there are three buildings on my site and I had not specidied which building - fair enough. I was told to call customer service, whcih I did. A very pleasant operator took down the correct address, placed me on hold, called the Redfern MC, got back on the line to me and said that she had spoken to the person who had my parcel ...they had re-addressed it for me and put it in the post - I should have it the next day. That was in March and it has not and, I think, never will reach me.



pharmaboy said:

agree with most of our points FXH, but will add one.

catching more incoming GST will drive more people overseas for holidays too IMO. If I've got a choice between cairns and hawaii, and the cost differential is $400 or so per week - then hawaii wins out for the lower cost shopping - much like people used to routinely travel to hong kong for similar reasons.

For the economy it is better that I stay local for holidays and ship gods here imo.

I'm also not quite sure how we can have a free trade agreement, yet for example mercury marine can forbid their US distributors from dealing with Australia, and the local distributor can run a 50% greater RRP margin than in the US (hell, that GST sure seems to have a multiplier effect.....)

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I was quoted $440 for a replacement crocodile watch strap which sells for 150 Euros. Unfortunately, due to the international laws surrounding the import and export of exotic reptile skins, I can't import it direct from the EU without going through a laughable (and expensive) bureaucratic process.

Solution? I'll pick one up overseas, as the law permits me to import the item as hand luggage... and save $250. Damned if I'm paying the inflated local price.

Surely there's some dope soaked hippy leather worker in Darwin who will knock up a croc skin watch strap for $20- $50

We obviously don't travel in the same circles fxh... I get the feeling however, this is my loss.

Public service announcement for those north of the river in Melb.

I browsed through Savers in Sydney Road this morning and came across four perfect condition Hemdem shirts. French cuffs. A fetching pink self-stripe, a couple of attractive blues, a grey. There are likely to be more than four there but I didn't look hard as they are way too big for me. They are unsized and likely custom made. I'd estimate a 46 but could be as much as 48. So bargains there for a big bloke.

At $8 each it might be worth a trip.

There was also a remarkable number of Tyrwhitt french cuffs (of which I have way too many) in 34.5.

Say what you like about the People's Republic of Brunswick but we do show a bit of style in the shirt department.



Tarlee said:

Public service announcement for those north of the river in Melb.

I browsed through Savers in Sydney Road this morning and came across four perfect condition Hemdem shirts. French cuffs. A fetching pink self-stripe, a couple of attractive blues, a grey. There are likely to be more than four there but I didn't look hard as they are way too big for me. They are unsized and likely custom made. I'd estimate a 46 but could be as much as 48. So bargains there for a big bloke.

At $8 each it might be worth a trip.

There was also a remarkable number of Tyrwhitt french cuffs (of which I have way too many) in 34.5.

Say what you like about the People's Republic of Brunswick but we do show a bit of style in the shirt department.

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Thanks for the tip Tarlee. I live in Parkville and I go to that Savers a bit; it's normally a crushing disappointment but the sheer volume means that I have some occasional success. 34.5 might actually fit me so I'll check out the shirts.

The Footscray Savers is worth a trip too every now and again too, I found a couple of awesome ties the last time I went there...

tomee said:

fxh said:

Lots of options - plain white as a starter, or blue with white dots, or something with red/ burgundy and white dots.

There's a lot mor experts here than me on pocket squares , take it easy , plain white is already pushing boundaries in some places. Always understand your context and milieu , otherwise you'll be a dick.

Click to expand...

Selvaggio said:

I think California Dreamer should answer this, given his new found status

Click to expand...

thanks for the info.
browsing kent wang last night i think i will go with this one
http://www.kentwang.com/pocket-squares/white-with-navy-edge.html

Click to expand...

That looks like a nice versatile simple pocket handkerchief that will go with almost anything and last a lifetime.

You can get some good ones at Henry Bucks for around the same price at times.
I'll let you into my secret, if you don't tell anyone, I get a lot of great pocket handkerchiefs at a specialist ladies lingerie shop, they have boxes full of not too large ladies handkerchiefs and in interesting patterns. At $5 - $10 a throw. The other source is opshops , but you have to sort through ladies scarves etc. Also think of cutting up an old silk tie that has the colours and use it . Eg one that has a stain from curry or some slopped Pho or port and cigar ash or non specific bodily fluids.

Yours sincerely
Uncle fxh



fxh said:

You can get some good ones at Henry Bucks for around the same price at times.
I'll let you into my secret, if you don't tell anyone, I get a lot of great pocket handkerchiefs at a specialist ladies lingerie shop, they have boxes full of not too large ladies handkerchiefs and in interesting patterns. At $5 - $10 a throw. The other source is opshops , but you have to sort through ladies scarves etc. Also think of cutting up an old silk tie that has the colours and use it . Eg one that has a stain from curry or some slopped Pho or port and cigar ash or non specific bodily fluids.

Yours sincerely
Uncle fxh

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Op shops are the go. I bought most of my squares at op shops or from sellers of vintage scarves on ebay. The latter can be good value because their mostly female clients want bigger scarves.

I've also bought silk offcuts from a bridal shop and cotton quilting squares from a craft shop to knock up into squares.

Paying $100+ for a designer square at DJs is definitely not on the cards.



fxh said:

That looks like a nice versatile simple pocket handkerchief that will go with almost anything and last a lifetime.

You can get some good ones at Henry Bucks for around the same price at times.
I'll let you into my secret, if you don't tell anyone, I get a lot of great pocket handkerchiefs at a specialist ladies lingerie shop, they have boxes full of not too large ladies handkerchiefs and in interesting patterns. At $5 - $10 a throw. The other source is opshops , but you have to sort through ladies scarves etc. Also think of cutting up an old silk tie that has the colours and use it . Eg one that has a stain from curry or some slopped Pho or port and cigar ash or non specific bodily fluids.

Yours sincerely
Uncle fxh

Click to expand...

nice i will give op shops a look

i love Pho!

i emailed Kent about that pocket and he says they are now back in stock. $1 shipping so $26 i guess is ok
will be going with this colour suit

Don't wear the suit without a tie will you?

Hey guys, I think I touched on this before in this thread;

But does anybody know of any menswear salespeople in Australia?

A good 60% of my sales come from Australia and I really want to get more involved in the market there. The latest magazine mention we got was even from an Australian publication.

thanks

I know a couple people involved in the menswear market place in australia.